The Challenges of Pandemic on Elections and Democracies
Nandini Puri, Anna Nath Ganguly · Journal of Critical Reviews · 2020
Elections involve a deliberate and purposeful action that translates the will of the masses and gives the electorate a platform for political participation. Most countries are representative democracies and therefore elect the representatives through elections. With the spread of the outbreak of COVID 19, countries are left with few options to ensure the safety of voters. Thus, COVID-19 has huge fallouts not only in the field of health and economy but in elections and governance as well. The election process starts from registration of voters to timely declaration of results and auditing and evaluating the process. In the face of pandemic, election management bodies are either postponing or conducting elections as scheduled.The paper will study the different ways in which countries have responded to the crisis and managed elections with possible alternatives available to cast votes. The paper will also discuss in brief how coronavirus has put democracies under stress by studying Poland and Hungary. These countries have resorted to excessive measures that have become a threat to the rights of the citizens. Case Study approach has been used to study responses to conduct elections in challenging times.